Queen Camilla, as a teenager, became a victim of an attempted indecent assault, but managed to fight off the assailant with her own shoe. This episode was revealed by the former royal editor of The Times, Valentine Low, in his new book "Power and Palace." This is reported by the BBC, writes UNN.
Details
According to the author, Camilla Shand (the current Queen) was 16 or 17 years old when a man began to harass her on a train heading to Paddington Station. The girl took off her shoe and hit the attacker with it, acting as her mother had advised in such a situation. Upon arriving in London, Camilla reported the incident to railway officials, after which the assailant was arrested.
Low claims that the Queen first told Boris Johnson about this incident in 2008, when he was Mayor of London. Buckingham Palace officially does not comment on this story, but also does not deny it. "She acted responsibly," Low noted on BBC Radio 4.
In Camilla's public activities, supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence has been a key focus for many years. She is a patron of the organization SafeLives, regularly visits women's shelters and crisis centers, and speaks out in defense of victims.
"I have spoken to many women who have lived under coercive control and domestic abuse and have come out of it as survivors, not victims," she said in 2020.
Sources close to the Queen emphasize that Camilla did not publish her story earlier so as not to distract attention from those who currently need help. Her work in supporting victims, according to her entourage, was born from numerous stories of people she had listened to for years, and not just from her own experience.